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Collection Number:
03975Collection Title: Sam Byrd Papers, 1904-1972.

This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival
material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are
physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available
through the World Wide Web. See the
section for more information.

This collection was rehoused and a summary created with support from the National
Endowment for the Humanities; this finding aid was created with support from NC ECHO.

Sam Byrd was an author, actor, and producer, of Mt. Olive, N.C. The collection is chiefly correspondence, clippings, and other material, 1940-1955,
relating to Byrd's activities in the United States Navy in World War II; his novel,
Hurry Home to My Heart (1945); the staging of an historical pageant in Duplin County, N.C., in 1949; and
especially his proposed co-production, with Oliver Sayler, of stage adaptations of
Edgar Lee Masters's
Domesday Book and James Joyce's
Ulysses in New York City, 1954-1955. Volumes include a photograph album and a European travel
notebook, 1953.

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants,
as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Sam Byrd Papers, #3975, Southern Historical Collection,
The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Mrs. Walter Theron Cherry of Mt. Olive, N.C., in memory of her husband,
1972.

Additional materials received from John Flowers III, of the North Carolina Collection,
Unvirsity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, August 1973, and William Bridges, of Bronx,
N.Y.

Additional Descriptive Resources

A copy of the original finding aid for this collection is filed in folder 1a.

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or
confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy
laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. §
132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of
State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.).
Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to
identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent
of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under
common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's
private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable
person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no
responsibility.

The following terms from
Library of Congress Subject
Headings
suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the
entire collection; the terms do
not usually represent
discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or
items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's
online catalog.

Sam Byrd (1908-1955) was an author, actor, and producer. Byrd was born in Mt. Olive,
N.C., and attended the University of Florida but dropped out to go to New York City,
where he started with small roles in Broadway plays. He played the original Dude Lester,
1933-1936, in
Tobacco Road and received the Literary Digest Award for Best Young Actor on Broadway for the 1933-1934
season. He was Curley in
Of Mice and Men, 1937-1938, and at the same time produced Caldwell's
Journeyman. In 1940 he produced Roark Bradford's dramatization of the John Henry stories, and
in 1941 produced a play,
Good Neighbor.

He published three books:
Small Town South (1942);
South Atlantic Shakedown (for the United States Navy in World War II) and
Hurry Home to My Heart, following the Normandy landing; and two celebration pageants, "For Those who Live in the Sun," for the Jewish Congregation in Charleston, S.C., and "The Duplin Story" for Kenansville and Duplin County, N.C. At the time of his death he was working on
two novels and dramatic productions of Edgar Lee Masters'
Domesday Book and James Joyce's
Ulysses.

His wife was Patricia Bolam. He first met her during World War II when she was a child,
adopted her in 1946 when she was 12, brought her to his home Prospect Hill Plantation
near Charleston, S.C., educated her at Ashley Hall there and in Paris and married
her in 1951.

The collection is chiefly correspondence, clippings, and other material, 1940-1955,
relating to Byrd's activities in the United States Navy in World War II; his novel,
Hurry Home to My Heart (1945); the staging of a historical pageant in Duplin County, N.C., in 1949; and
especially his proposed co-production, with Oliver Sayler, of stage adaptations of
Edgar Lee Masters's
Domesday Book and James Joyce's
Ulysses in New York City, 1954-1955. Volumes include a photograph album and a European travel
notebook, 1953.

Correspondence, 1940-1949, deals with Samuel Byrd's naval affairs and his receipt
of the Guggenheim Fellowships. There are items about Byrd's being an ensign and various
military matters, 1942; his receiving the Bronze Star, 1946; and his being promoted
to lieutenant commander, 1948. There is some material on Byrd's novel
Hurry Home to My Heart, 1945, and publishers' opinions on a projected work, 1948. Correspondence in 1949
relates to Byrd's contributions to the Duplin County Historical Association's Bicentennial
Celebration.

Material from 1950-1953 consists mainly of financial data. Byrd was in England and
New York City during this time. Some of the most significant correspondence begins
in 1954 and involves dramatic productions of Edgar Lee Masters'
Domesday Book and James Joyce's
Ulysses. Much of this correspondence consists of letters from Sayler to Byrd and exchanges
between Sayler and Trevor Passmore. Plans for the productions are discussed extensively,
1954-1955, including matters of direction, casting, script-writing, and music. Padraic
Colum wrote the outlines for the Joyce production, "Ulysses in Nighttown," and there are typescripts of his outlines for acts one and two, 1955. There is also
comment in correspondence on the Joyce Trustees and their attitudes toward stage and
film rights.

Items dated after Byrd's death in 1955 involve the Wayne Historical Society's commemoration
of Byrd in the form of a speech delivered by William Bridges, in Mt. Olive, N.C.,
1958, and correspondence with the University of North Carolina Library about the papers,
1971-1972.

Also included are clippings related to Byrd's stage career, marriage, and receipt
of the Guggenheim fellowships; play programs, playbills, and bookjackets; photographs;
a European travel notebook, 1953; and an original copy of "The Story of Duplin."